Turkey extended visa-free stay up to 60 days

Turkish authorities extended visa-free stay for Russian citizens from 30 to 60 days – for now until the end of this year. This decision was unilaterally made by the Turkish cabinet after numerous publications regarding the problems that the real estate owners faced after the visa waiver with Russia.

Intergovernmental agreement on mutual visa-free travel for the citizens of both countries came into force on April 16, 2010. It implied visa-free stay in both countries within 30 days from the date of entry. And if ordinary tourists were quite OK with such terms, those Russians who own real estate in Turkey and send there their families to spend the entire summer faced serious problems. RATA-news reported this issue soon after the visa waiver.

The problem is that in order to stay on Turkey’s resorts for longer than 30 days one had to apply for a visa beforehand. Plus the Turkish Consulate required two months, quite a set of documents and the presence of an applicant to process an application. The visa renewal procedure for those who were already in Turkey appeared to be even more troubling.

After this issue appeared in the mass media and the Turkey’s consulates in Moscow and Kazan’ infested with those who wished to get a long-term visa, the country’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism got back to the 60-day matter. And finally last Saturday Turkish media announced that the decision was made. However it is not yet known since when it is coming into force. 

Travel trade experts estimate that around 5-10% of the total tourist flow prefer long-term vacation on Turkey’s resorts – this makes from 120 to 240 thousand people. Such a huge difference results from the different statistical data regarding the inflow of Russian tourists to Turkey: Rosstat’s figures show that last year 2.4 million Russians visited this country, while the Turkish statistics see this figure at 3.1 million.